The Morning: Your elemental self

As artists, and all of us, evolve, there's an essence that remains.

View in browser|nytimes.com January 25, 2025 By Melissa Kirsch Good morning. The artists and people we love are, despite their and our best efforts, always changing. But there's part of all of us that's impervious to external forces. María Jesús Contreras Changing tunes I loved reading about the 27-year-old French pianist Alexandre Kantorow, a rising star in the classical world who's won major awards, played in the rain in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics and is set to make his debut at the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Friday. What struck me about Kantorow is his commitment to keeping his life and his working practices the same, even as he seems destined for fame, even as fans crowd outside his performances holding signs begging for seats. "I don't really like change, and unnecessary change in life," Kantorow told The Times. He's had the same manager and teacher since he was 16 and remains with his small record label. Resisting unnecessary change, what a concept! In the stock fantasy of fame, one imagines all the ways in which their life will transform, each upgrade bigger and flashier. I can't pretend to know what it would feel like to be a musician on the precipice of stardom, but I'd guess the temptation to shed one's old ways of working would be fierce. Listening to Kantorow's latest album, a collection of Brahms and Schubert pieces, I wondered how a commitment to keeping things stable affects an artist's output. Will the "intriguing tension between Kantorow's lucid, pearly touch and the Romantic wildness of his music-making," as the classical music critic Zachary Woolfe put it, be altered by the inevitable changes that accompany success? What about an artist is essential, impervious to any external forces? I recently rewatched "Shine a Light," Martin Scorsese's concert film of the Rolling Stones's performances at the Beacon Theater in New York in 2006. The intimate way the film is shot makes you feel that you're onstage, up close watching artists make art. You forget that you're observing one of the most successful rock bands in history, that these people have played these songs a million times, that they are basically unknowable in their fame and riches and the way the world regards them. Instead they feel familiar, almost cozily accessible. The ways in which celebrity and fortune have changed them feel beside the point. The early 21st-century Mick Jagger of "Shine a Light" is to this fan essentially the same as the one strutting in 1970's "Gimme Shelter," the same one romancing the crowd during the Stones' "Hackney Diamonds" tour last year. The idea of there being something fundamentally stable about an artist, independent of outside forces, makes sense. It's what allows them to experiment with style and genre and persona and still be legible to their audiences. Of course, fans are well known to accuse the artists they love of abandoning their them-ness (see: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival), of changing beyond recognition. As annoying as this must be for an artist, I wonder if there is something sort of wonderful about having a fan base that wants you to stay true, that so loves what they think is the elemental part of you that they want to help you safeguard it. We do this with the people we actually know all the time, provide them with a mirror that reflects back to them the person we love. The challenge, in art and life, is to allow people to morph and experiment while trusting that the essence we adore is basically indelible. It isn't going anywhere, no matter how much change we opt for or resist. For more Alexandre Kantorow's "Brahms and Schubert" was one of The Times's best classical music albums of last year. "The sheer pleasure of making music that keens and growls like a pack of ravenous alley cats is obviously what keeps them going." From 2008, a review of the Rolling Stones concert film, "Shine a Light." THE WEEK IN CULTURE Film and TV Karla Sofía Gascón in "Emilia Pérez." Pathé Films The Academy announced this year's Oscar nominees. Demi Moore's nod for best actress capped a career comeback, while Karla Sofía Gascón made history as the first openly trans actress to be nominated. See the full list. "Presence," a horror film starring Lucy Liu and directed by Steven Soderberg, is one of six new movies our critics are talking about this week. Questlove spoke to The Times about sifting through five decades of musical performances for his film "Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of 'S.N.L.' Music." The time has come for a gay version of "The Bachelor," Erik Piepenburg writes. Netflix ended 2024 with an annual operating income exceeding $10 billion for the first time in its history. 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And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Morning newsletter from The New York Times, or as part of your New York Times account. To stop receiving The Morning, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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